World

Brussels attacks could scramble U.S. presidential race

Members of the New York National Guard patrol Penn Station, Tuesday, March 22, 2016, in New York. Authorities are increasing security throughout New York City following explosions at the airport and subway system in Brussels.

Image: AP Photo/Mark Lennihan

By Juana Summers & Emily Cahn2016-03-22 15:35:19 UTC

WASHINGTON — The series of deadly terrorist attacks that struck Brussels on Tuesday have the potential to reshape the U.S. presidential race, placing a new emphasis on issues of national security and foreign policy as a result of the tragedy.

The Tuesday attacks in Brussels killed more than two dozen people at the city's airport and at a subway station, and wounded more than 100 people. The attacks also occurred as voters in Arizona and Utah were set to head to the polls and Idaho Democrats were headed to caucuses.

Since the start of campaign season, the world has been struck by several terror attacks, including the attacks that killed 130 people in and around Paris on Nov. 13 and the December shooting that killed 14 people in California.

The latest attacks prompted an immediate response from Republican and Democratic presidential candidates in the winnowed field as Americans will soon decide who is best prepared to serve as commander in chief.

Speaking at a hastily arranged news conference in Washington, D.C. on Tuesday morning, Texas Sen. Ted Cruz called for an immediate halt to Syrian refugees coming to the United States, something that's been raised repeatedly by Republicans this cycle.

He called the country's refugee vetting process "woefully insufficient" and said it would be easy for someone to cover as a refugee in order to commit terrorist acts.

.@tedcruz says as #Brussels is attacked, "president Obama is spending his time going to baseball games with the castros."

"In the wake of Brussels, we don’t need another lecture from President Obama on Islamophobia," Cruz said at the news conference, held steps from the U.S. Capitol in front of the building of Fox News’ Washington, D.C. headquarters. "We need a commander in chief who does everything necessary to defeat the enemy, and we need to immediately halt the president’s ill-advised plan to bring in tens of thousands of Syrian Muslim refugees."

Donald Trump, who has attributed his front-runner status to his approach to combatting terrorism and immigration, repeatedly called Brussels a "disaster city" in a series of interviews Tuesday morning.

"I will tell you, I've been talking about this a long time, and look at Brussels," Trump said on Fox and Friends. "Brussels was a beautiful city, a beautiful place with zero crime. And now it's a disaster city. It's a total disaster, and we have to be very careful in the United States, we have to be very careful and very vigilant as to who we allow in this country. "

"Brussels was a beautiful city, a beautiful place with zero crime. And now it's a disaster city."

He also spoke of the decline of Brussels, saying that even ahead of the latest deadly attacks, the city had turned into an "armed camp."

"If you went into Brussels 20 years ago, it was like a magical city. Now you look at it, it's an armed camp," Trump said. "You want to lead your life, you don't want to be living in an armed camp for your whole life. And there is a certain group of people that is making living a normal life impossible."

Do you all remember how beautiful and safe a place Brussels was. Not anymore, it is from a different world! U.S. must be vigilant and smart!

With the identities of suspects still unknown in Belgium, Trump alluded again to his proposal — made in the wake of the December terrorist attack in San Bernardino, Calif. — to temporarily ban Muslims from entering the United States.

"It's going to get worse and worse. In my opinion, this is just the beginning. It will get worse and worse because we are lax and we are foolish — we can't allow these people, at this point we cannot allow these people to come into our country. I'm sorry," he said. "This is a story that just seems to be more and more happening and it's really not very pretty to watch."

"This is a story that just seems to be more and more happening and it's really not very pretty to watch."

Ohio Gov. John Kasich told MSNBC that Obama should return to the United States from Cuba and work with the "heads of state around the world."

"They ought to assemble teams and they need to examine these vulnerabilities we have, because without effective human intelligence, without coordination and cooperation among all the civilized nations, we get these gaps and these gaps get exploited by these people who are intent on killing civilized people," he said.

Democratic front-runner Hillary Clinton, the former secretary of state, has made her foreign policy experience a focus of her presidential campaign. During a speech in Washington, D.C. to the American Israel Public Affairs committee or AIPAC, she said the country needs "steady hands," rather than an unreliable president like Trump.

These terrorists seek to undermine the democratic values that are the foundation of our way of life. They will never succeed. -H

On Tuesday morning, she told NBC's Todaythat "the idea that the terrorists are continuing to strike at the heart of Europe...is deeply distressing" and said that the U.S. has "got to stand in solidarity with our European allies."

"We have to intensify our efforts to find and prevent terrorists from ever doing this again," Clinton said. "It's going to be a long challenge because of a lot of factors, including the easy accessibility to powerful explosives...but we've got to be absolutely strong and smart and steady in how we respond."

In a rebuke of Trump and some Republicans who want to see America's borders shuttered, Clinton said that it would be "unrealistic to say that we're going to completely shut down our borders to everyone."

But, she added, the country has to do a "much better job in coordination with the Europeans on tracking and following anyone who has any connection with terrorist activity or terrorism."

Mashable
is a global, multi-platform media and entertainment company. Powered by its own proprietary technology, Mashable is the go-to source for tech, digital culture and entertainment content for its dedicated and influential audience around the globe.